"Stacia" wrote in message
...

Last night at about 2:30 AM my husband woke me up to tell me our cat
Simon had possibly swallowed a sewing needle and thread. Sure enough,
after an emergency x-ray, the vet found it in Simon's intestine. The
surgery went well, the needle hadn't penetrated anything so that was
good.

Its a good thing you got him into surgery right away! The longer the time
between ingestion and surgery the greater the risk of perferation.


The vet called today and said that Simon was still okay, he's in ICU
for a day or two, but his temp had gone up. The vet said this was a
morphine reaction and was common.


Never heard of that. Fever could also be a sign of infection.



The vet has since gone on break or gone home already so I wanted to
ask here, as with the vet med center, you can't always find a vet to
talk to immediately. Is Simon's temperature something serious or does
it usually resolve well?

If the vet took the proper precautions and cleaned out the abdomen before
surgery there shouldn't be any serious problems. Otherwise, a fever could
be an indication of peritonitis or sepsis- septic peritonitis. Enterotomies
are a little tricky because there's always a risk of the intestinal contents
leaking into the abdomen during surgery or leaking through the incision
after its closed up (dehiscence). Symptoms of peritonitis usually appear
few days after surgery. Your vet is probably keeping your cat for a few days
to make sure he'll be ok and also to make sure he can poop. A lot of cats
develop ileus after intestinal surgery.



What about post-surgery treatment, will I need
to feed him wet or special food or anything? What usually happens after
surgery like this?

Hopefully nothing! Just watch him very closely- especially his litter box
behavior. If he vomits- even once- call your vet right away.

Good luck,

Phil